8 is an Odd Number
by NontoxicEggs
Summary: Eight teenagers decide to get too far into the game. They create characters based off themselves, or complete opposites of themselves. They become the eight different classes, dedicating too much of their life to become level 129 heroes.
1. Convincing

A girl sits alone in her room. Her elbow leans against the desk, her hand supporting her head. Her right hand is hovering over the keyboard, lazily the only one that allows her to type and navigate the game.

It was close to midnight, and she was tired. But the download for a game she wanted to play for a long time now had finished. Her friend on Skype (and her only friend, for that matter) told her to download it a few hours ago. Due to her slow connection it took longer than expected, but from what she heard it was pretty fun. And these days, with no friends outside the messenger, she downloaded a lot of games.

Kayla closed her eyes for a few seconds, waiting for the game to patch. No sounds came from the computer except the quiet music she was playing, which only made her sleepier. She quickly opened her eyes again and sat back, not wanting to fall asleep without checking out the game and seeing if it was even worth taking up space.

She typed in her login information, and selected the server she was told to go on. She created a character, calling it Caela. She explored the town called Flaris, knowing she could have hit level 15, the level required to change jobs, before she went to bed.

But she stayed at level 1, not wanting to get lost tomorrow when she'd level up. Her friends already told her a lot about the game and how it worked, just not where everything was.

The game crashed when she got a call on Skype. She cursed at her friend and clicked 'Decline', then angrily typed in that she was going to bed and couldn't talk. All she got was that stupid smiley face in reply, followed by a simple goodnight.

God, he pissed her off.

Kayla groaned loudly and stood up, walking two steps over to her bed and flopping down on it. She didn't bother turning the light or the computer off. She just wanted to sleep. And it wasn't too hard to get there.

* * *

Elliot sat back in his chair, wondering if he should go to sleep as well. It was only 11 on the east coast, and he was usually up until 3 am playing that game. He woke up late often, but it didn't bug him. He had his own computer, like Kayla, so he spent a lot of time hiding from his parent in his room. They were kind of naggy and way too attached to him.

Kayla hadn't logged off. But she never did, because her computer was always on except when she was leaving the house. He knew she'd get the message in the morning anyway. It wouldn't matter.

'I think I'll go to bed too. Just felt like you should know, I know how obsessed you are with me and you like to know when I'm going to sleep.'

She could yell at him for that in the morning. Until then, he signed off on Skype, put the computer into sleep mode, and crawled into bed.


	2. Khaos

'YOU'RE STUPID AND I HATE YOU. THIS IS WHY NOBODY LIKES YOU AND WHY YOU DONT HAVE FRIENDS. YOU THINK YOURE ALL HIGH AND MIGHTY WHEN YOURE JUST A STUPUID LONLEY BOY WHO IS INN LOVE WITH HIMSELF.'

An agitated hand makes many mistakes.

Kayla didn't even wait for his response before setting her status to 'Do Not Disturb'. He probably wasn't even up right now. She sighed, rubbing her eyes and looking over at the clock. It was 2 PM and she had just woken up. Pretty terrible, it was the latest she ever woke up. She really needed to fix her sleeping schedule.

She logged into the game. Today she'd get herself to level 15, at the least. Maybe after she picked her job she'd go back to sleep. Maybe she could avoid Elli―

Oh hell no.

'You're cute when you're in denial!'

After that she got a call. Normally she would have denied, but having no friends to talk to other than him, she answered. It would go like it normally would. They'd settle their differences and be friends again. Then when they logged off they'd be enemies all night and be friends in the morning.

_"Hey Kayla."_

"It's Caela!" she yelled into the microphone. "And why are you such an idiot?"

_"Are you playing the game yet?"_

"No, it crashed when you sent the call, like always."

_"You should get a new computer."_

"The one I have is fine."

_"Anyway, my name on there is none other than Elliot. Where are you?"_

"I don't know! Central Flarine?"

_"Heheh. Log back on and go there! I'll add you and see you in a second."_

_

* * *

_

Elliot walked over to Caela, at the same time sending her a friend request. Which she accepted, but not without asking what the point of that was. "So I can see when you're online and send you messages, silly!"

"Whatever. So what do we do here?"

"Level up."

"That it?"

"I suppose a team would be helpful." he said, sending her a party invitation as well. "It's good to get every class. So we'll need a magician, assist, acrobat, and a mercenary."

"What the heck?"

"Uh, you can change your job at level 15."

"Then we should level up. Let's go." she said, running off.

As they headed outside town, Elliot continued his explanation. "I'll be an acrobat." he said. "What do you want to be?"

"What one is easier?"

"Probably a mage. You only need stamina and intelligence, and you can make it on one skill I think."

"Then I'll be a mage."

"Cool."

"Consider party chat, you two." said a voice nearby. They looked around, and Elliot pointed to someone near the mushpangs. Which wasn't too far from where they were. Elliot ran over to him.

"Right, sorry. You heard all that, right? What are you gonna be, just out of curiosity?"

"A blade."

"...What?" they both said, giving each other confused looks, Caela's a bit more of a glare.

"A blade. At level 60. It's one of the second jobs after mercenary."

"Second jobs?" Caela glared at Elliot, who simply shrugged and laughed it off.

"Yes. At level 60 you will have to change jobs again. At level 15 there's four choices, but at level 60 there's only two. After that, no more, I promise." he said, eyeing their expressions. "You guys look confused."

"Yeah." Elliot said, laughing a bit. "I didn't know that. What are the jobs for acrobat and mage?"

"Acrobats can become rangers who wield bows, or jesters who wield yo-yo's."

"YO-YO'S, YEAH!" Elliot jumped into the air and calmed himself by the time he hit the ground. "Continue."

"...Right. Mages can be elementors, which are self-explanatory, or a psykeeper who-"

"I'll be a psykeeper." Caela said, folding her arms.

"I didn't finish."

"Yeah, but there's more than one element and so elementors sound like a lot of work."

"I suppose psykeepers can get by with one spell as mages?"

"They pretty much have to. All the other spells are elements."

"Uh... thanks. What's your name?"

"Khaos."

"Right, Khaos. I'm Elliot, this is Kayla-"

"Caela."

"And I was wondering if you could stay with us and help us out?"

"Sure thing." Khaos smiled ever so slightly, and Caela's eyes widened a bit from their usual glare. Elliot nudged her, nodding a thanks to Khaos. Caela blushed. "T-Thanks."

"Consider party chat, you three."


	3. The Bounty Hunter

"Oh great."

"What?"

"I have to go."

"Why?"

"I just... forgot about something. I might not be back on again."

"Okay... see you tomorrow, then."

"I mean not ever. Goodbye."

Khaos disappeared before Caela could continue, so she ran back over to Elliot who was at the shops buying his new armor. "Khaos had to go and he said he might not come back."

"Aw, we needed him."

"Yeah. Now we're gonna have to find another blade."

"Oh well, we can do without for now, but I think we should have everyone before level 60."

"Okay. Well until then, let's just try getting to level 15-"

"You two, have you seen anyone with a red name?"

"A red name? Like an aggro?"

"I don't have time for this. Yes, like an aggro, just a person! Have you seen any?"

"Um... no, why?" Elliot looked at him, sort of confused while Caela stared into space. She didn't like people and did her best to ignore them.

"I just needed to know that you don't know. Bye." the person ran off, and Elliot couldn't help wanting to follow him. If eventually he found the person with a red name, then maybe he could ask him why his name was red. Come to think of it, weren't all names white?

"Elli."

"What?"

"I'm going to get off now."

"No, come on! Let's follow that guy!"

"No, I'm getting off. I just had a bad feeling about something and I don't really want to talk to anyone right now."

"We don't have to talk, we can just-"

"I'm sorry. I'll see you later."

All at once, she logged off the game and on Skype. Even though usually she never logged out. Something was up and he'd find out later, she always told him her problems. But for now, it was his time to shine. He'll find this guy with the red name.

He ran after the person, out of town and throughout the continent. He asked everyone, and soon Elliot knew he'd have to give up. And he did, he stood at the top of a rather short mountain range, sighing as he stared at the monsters below. "Good one, Flame. You let him get away, you idiot."

"The red name guy?" Elliot asked, approaching him. He looked over and nodded, then looked back down. "I suppose I could tell you now if you still want to know."

"Of course I want to know!"

"Well... what it is, is there's this guy called Inkky. He's been on the bounty list for awhile now and he's making his way up to most wanted. My job is to prevent that from happening." he plucked the string of his bow a few times, then sighed again. His expression became irritated, impatient, and he looked up at the sky. "I just need to get rid of him! But I can never find him!"

"I have a question." Elliot said, as if he didn't pay attention to anything he just said.

"Ugh, what?"

"Why is his name red?"

"The same reason he's on the bounty list. For killing people."

"You can do that?"

"Yes, but nothing good comes from it so hardly anyone does it. The ones who do end up doing it are probably in it for the fun. If he gets known enough someone will put a bounty on him, and that's what I'm after."

"Woooah. So you're like a bounty hunter?"

"That's right."

"Cool... and what class are you?"

He grinned a bit, almost proud that this guy was impressed with him. "I'm a Blade."

"2nd class mercenary, right? So are mercenaries the best fighters?"

"It depends on how you can handle yourself. I can, and pretty well, so I guess you could consider me one of the best." his smile vanished and he glared back at the scenery below. "But so is Inkky. He's just a mage, but he's leveling up fast so eventually he could be capable of killing me. I just want to get the bounty before that happens."

"Sounds like a plan. Mind if I help?"

The man couldn't help laughing, and it went on for a good full minute before he looked at Elliot again. "I work alone. Not only that, you're a vagrant?"

"I'm going to be a Jester." he said, not finding it too funny. "And from what I've read, Jesters are the ultimate player killers?"

"It depends. Look at it like this, I'll always be a higher level than you."

"I'll keep that in mind." he looked towards the sky, which was darkening. "You know, my friend and I are gonna form a guild at level 40, and we're trying to get all the classes in it... care to join?"

"I'm gonna be starting my own guild soon. We're going to kill Clockworks. Same purpose I suppose?"

"...Like, the endboss? I think I heard of Clockworks."

"Not quite the endboss, the first supergiant in the game. He's level 90 and he's really hard to kill. But the rewards are great."

"So should our guilds be allies?"

"That'd work." he said, smiling a bit.

"Cool." he said, sitting down in the grass. "By the way, my name is Elliot."

"I go by Flame." he said, closing his eyes. "It's nice to meet you."


End file.
